Northwest Iowa — Barring any write-in or independent candidate surprises, it appears that the next O’Brien County Sheriff will be Deputy Allen Schuknecht. He defeated Sheldon Police Officer Todd Wood for the Republican nomination for Sheriff. No Democratic candidates filed papers.
Northwest Iowa still seems to prefer US Congressman Steve King. King was favored by the majority of voters in O’Brien, Osceola, Lyon and Sioux Counties for the Republican nomination for the Fourth District seat over challenger Rick Bertrand of Sioux City. Democrat Kim Weaver of Sheldon is the only Democrat who filed.
Skyler Wheeler looks to be the GOP nominee for the Fourth District State House seat. He defeated Rock Valley Mayor Kevin Van Otterloo and Jeff VanDerWerff. Wheeler took 44 percent of the vote. Van Otterloo had 29 percent, and VanDerWerff had 25 percent.
In the four-way race for O’Brien County Supervisor District 1, Sherri Bootsma had the most votes with a little over 43 percent. Next was Michael Negus with about 24 percent. Next was Jerry Nieuwenhuis with about 17 and a half percent, and then James DeBoom with about 15 and a quarter percent. As far as District 2, John Steensma defeated Kelly Ney by about 56 to 44 percent.
For the Republican nomination for Sioux County Board of Supervisors, District 3, voters went about 60/40 for Al Bloemendaal over Rich Koele.
For the Republican nomination for Lyon County Board of Supervisors, District 3, voters went about 70/30 for Mark Behrens over Gerald Klinkenborg.
For the GOP nomination for Supervisor District 2 in Osceola County, voters chose Jayson VandeHoef on 63 percent of the ballots, and Doug Hensch on the other 37 percent of the ballots. And for District 5, in was about 55 and a half percent for Ed Jones, and about 44 and a half percent for Merlin Sandersfeld.
